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Somalia

Somalia Polio Flash Update: Week 42 2020

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*data as reported in Weekly Somalia EPI/PEI update, ending 17 October

• In week 42, two (2) new circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 (cVDPV2) cases were confirmed from AFP cases whose contacts tested positive for cVDPV2. The first AFP case is a male child, from an accessible area in Baidoa district, Bay area, with reported onset of paralysis on 3 September, 2020. The second AFP case, also a male, is from Kismayo district, Lower Juba, and had onset of paralysis on 29 August, 2020.

• A case initially classified as an aVDPV2, from Boroma District, Awdal Region, Somaliland, has been reclassified as a cVDPV2 as per GPEI guidelines, following evidence of a VDPV2 case in Ethiopia which was found to be genetically linked. Case response with monovalent oral polio vaccine type 2 (mOPV2) is currently being designed to respond to this newest emergence.

• A total of nine (9) cVDPV2 cases and 24 cVDPV2 positive environmental samples have been reported so far in 2020. Steps taken in response to these recent detections include detailed case investigations, healthy child sampling, raising community awareness, sensitizing health workers to acute flaccid paralysis, and intensified active case search.

• The second round of monovalent oral polio vaccine type 2 (mOPV2) vaccination activities covering South and Central regions of Somalia began on 25 October, and will run until 28 October. Teams aim to reach 1.65 million children with oral polio vaccine. Read a press release on the campaign, which began following World Polio Day on 24 October